After a nice big breakfast, we drove the 10 miles to Fort Ellen to visit a couple of Peter's favourite distilleries - Laphroaig , Lagavulin and lunch at Ardbeg. First was Laphroaig where we were the only people on the tour (advantage of going in the quiet season). Briony was very knowledgeable and delightful at the same time. She took us through all the stages of whisky making, including the maltings where the barley is laid out & turned every 4 hrs allowing it to germinate into malt. Arthur (below) has worked for 41 yrs in this trade and Laphroaig is one of very few that still do this manually.
The malt is mixed with water where it ferments. Then transferred into the stills where the evaporated alcohol is captured.
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| Laphroaig stills |
We had booked into a master tasting at Lagavulin after lunch. as I was driving and am yet to develop the taste for 'iodine' whisky, I participated by smelling only. It was actually very interesting - tasting from the raw 58% alcohol to a 'smoother' 18 yr old.
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| whisky tasting - Lagavulin |
We then drove up to a church ruin & the Kildarton High Cross which was carved 1300 years ago (oops photo sideways)..
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View from Kildarton Cross
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